Just The Opening Tip: March 3, 2025

Happy Monday, everybody. It's the world famous Ben and Skin show. Before we get going here, did you guys have a good weekend?

It was incredible.

Really, No, no, now that I look back on it, it was it was a pretty average weekend. You didn't have a lot of free time. I haven't had free time in a long time. So I had some free time Friday night. Okay, after driving back from Oklahoma?

Right, what'd you do? I don't even remember.

Oh no, I do, I do we I had a couple of beers, and I watched the Lakers and the Clippers. Okay, I watched that game too, Katie. You're not able to watch Laker games, are you.

That's not a recreational activity for me. It is for me. I actually am enjoying it.

I think this is the most non MAVs games I've ever seen.

Like I'm like, I don't. I'm not a fan of the NBA.

I ca oh, look, the Bucks are playing the Hornet, so I'll sit down and watch this for three hours.

That's not me.

But I do find myself following Luca out to the West Coast, and I love watching him and Lebron play. Yeah, man, I think they're a fun team to watch because they've got my other guy, Austin Reeves, who is a baldon.

This bit. Have y'all know you've seen him play?

Austin is actually really cool. You've watched him play the last few weeks. He's it's like, is uh is your podcast on the MAHLF channel making him do this?

No? This is okay, this.

Is I'm so I watch a lot. I'm not breaking news to anybody. I watch a lot of NBA. I really enjoy watching Austin Reeds.

I know. But your talented mister ripley bit it. Have you guys seen that?

How did we not get him in that trade? Because it would have been nice. We could have had him thrown in.

Uh, he's not a throw in?

Yeah, they and and actually, I mean, honestly, you can go back and look. For the last two years, teams have been trying to get Austin Reeve from the Lakers and they're not coming off. There was still room for them to throw him in. There was room for them to throw a lot of things in. But I feel so much I would feel so much better. But okay, so I ended up watching another Laker. I watched that game and then I went back and watched it again.

Yep, we getting a shot back. He looks. I mean, they've got him listed at two thirty. Now. I don't know if he's lost forty pounds, but he's looking slim. He looks good. He looks really good. You know, It's just it takes it.

By the time they get to the playoffs, it'll be his team, but it just takes a while, Like you don't just come in and go all right, Lebron, it's my team.

Now.

I'm coming off an injury, but that'll happen naturally over the next couple weeks. And then by the time and they're the number two seed.

I feel like an accepting eighties dad of homosexuality when it comes to other people watching the Lakers.

Okay, tell me, I don't.

Understand it, but it doesn't bother me that you do it. I just don't understand how you do.

Okay, Well, let's talk through it, dad.

So I fell in love with Luca, and so I love Luca the player.

Now, if Luca had demanded a trade, I would hate him, but he did not. He didn't.

He lost one hundred and ten million dollars in that trade. He never wanted to leave it. He was sad for about three weeks. And so I'm like, dude, I'm a Luca fan. I can't just turn it off all of a sudden because he's wearing a different jersey. Okay, do you understand what's happening here? The whole Luca It wasn't Luca's choice. Is the whole thing with the dad in the eighties saying I guess God made him that way, right, right, But it's like.

Uh, and by the way, you're not the only one.

There's a few other people in my life who were that way, and I've I've just it's almost like you're like driving and peering into Luca's house when he's with his new love.

I know it's another guy out by the tree, just kind of watching it. And what do you talk about he's playing on television? Happen is this like? And what kind of love is it? Because I'm confused by your comparison. Are you peeking in on gay love?

Dude?

If Luca and the MAVs are simultaneously, I'm switching back and forth. That's I'm going back. I love them both. I love It's to me, it's two Christmases. Mam and dad got a divorce again.

I'm not judging you. I just don't understand it.

For me, I couldn't you couldn't enjoy Luca the Lakers. Oh Okay, it's a big because, big problem because of the history of the Lakers, or because history of Lebron.

Okay, the Lebron thing.

Dude at forty or whoever old he is playing as good a basketball as he did and maybe better than his last MVP or whatever in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen. I don't know if those last one I just saw those two years compared his numbers are.

Better at forty.

I don't let me just let me just go on record here. I don't understand Lebron hate. I mean, we all have things that we hate for whatever reason we hate it. But I'm like, all right, let's take a step back and look at the entirety of what this human has done. He is probably, for sure in basketball until Wemby, the most hyped athlete of all time. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at seventeen, he was the chosen one.

He has exceeded.

All reasonable expectations for being the most hyped play ever ever.

He smashed him.

He's setting every record, and he's one of the ten best players in the league in his forties, and he's turned himself into a billionaire. He's never been involved in a scandal, at least one that he's been caught for. So like, I don't who's hating him? Oh man, I get people all the time, like I just can't stand that Lebron.

I see a lot of it, and I see a lot of it now.

Could could it be Dwayne Wade hate that spilled over because of the coughing incident?

Or could it be the I'm taking my talents?

Obviously he's aware, you know, the whole I don't want to be the face the NBA, but I'll take Jordan's number.

Yeah.

And but even that, like that whole thing becoming about Steven A. Smith is nauseating. Yeah, Like Steven A. Smith made that about him and it's just gross. I mean, I get it, it's where it sucks. I Mean, I try so hard not to watch wrestling, and it just finds me.

Dude, wrestling had a big weekend.

Seena turned heel man. I can't believe I've been begging someone to bring this up this whole time.

Thank you so much. Skinning the platform is yours. How is this effecting?

Oh my god, it was a huge night, John Cena. People have been wanting this for twenty years, had no idea was actually gonna happen. And the Rock, oh my god, you guys have to watch it. The Rock was there.

Explain this because Mark Followell called its absolute cinema.

I will say I didn't realize what I was watching while I was watching it, but Mike kind of freaked out, and I saw Twitter freaking out. I was like, oh, so this was a much bigger deal than I realized.

So it's him versus the Rock or what happened?

No, he's on the Rock side now, so the Rock, Yes, the Rock has been bad. He was going to Cody Roads trying to get Cody Roads to come to his side, and John Cena was pretending to be on Cody Roads side. He goes in for a hug for Cody Roads, like yeah, I got you, man, and he sees the Rock.

They look at each other.

The Rock does a slice the throat thing and Johnsona punches him and it was awesome.

Skinny john c fake punch the Rock.

No, but because the Rock was in the shadows telling him now's the time.

It's an amazing fantasy world because I didn't realize the Rock was a bad guy. And I'm sitting here going so wait, the wrestling world accepts the guy that makes all the cute movies with Kevin Hard is a bad guy.

Do you separate it? You separate the artist from the art. But it's a play. It's not real. It's not real. It's a play. They should they should have w W E be nominated for Tony Awards, right would it's fun?

You guys are missing out.

I agree, fun, it's fun. Do they ever break out in the song? They should? Would be great?

That would be wrestling musical guitar out playing. I'm a real American speaking of music. It reminds me of the intro.

To start Time movies. Right now, you're right, right, right, right, right time to do one poor time quick effan with I show You're gonna ruling it if you except with a similar sweet pursuing it, hold out shaw shank through the sewer. Kid now what chilling at the eagle. Yeah, we're doing it. Three o'clock on the dock. Got a habit for my house, a goot status, Howard starting to get craddic shows that up multiplied like a rabbit to then zone out, crank it up, beat the habit.

I'm on everything out with the friends, rocking on the radio.

My home's head talking on the radio.

It's oh baby by all the radio, all right. Right.

As I was getting ready to, uh, you know, rolling in the studio, I was riding up in the elevator looking at social media, and I saw that Jimmy Johnson is retiring from Fox Sports after thirty one years. Oh, Jimmy is leaving out. Have we confirmed that he's gone as of now? Like he will not be there for this next season.

That's what it looks like. That's what the press release kind of made it seem like, Oh, there's a press release for that.

Yeah, they press release, okay, because all I saw was just a story of him being on Cowered and the quotes I read it made it sound like he wasn't going to be doing it anymore.

But I didn't see anything official.

Yeah, announcing your retirement on Colin Cowhard is like celebrating your birthday party at the landfill. It's not like the greatest place to do something anything really that.

That experienced last Friday, Scar or do you have no No, it was a great time. Okay, no, I know, I'm proud of myself. Oh it was wonderful. Well and good work landfill turner. Great, that's it.

That's the name of the new Taylor Sheridan show. I land Hill Landfill. Man, it's just Kevin standing out there. Let the Melissa landfill looking strong out their world.

You need help it on that table.

Uh?

Okay, so you do.

You know everything in the world that I look at right now, I look at through the Luca lens.

I can't help it. Yeah, you gotta get off that. You can't help it.

I just still can't believe that we traded Luca, and so I'm still trying to just work through all of the aftershocks of that. But I you know, I'm wondering what to compare it to. Like initially, I was like, this is as bad as the Jimmy Jerry divorce, right, like, it's that magnitude. So to me, it's a little bit more like it's I understand the comparison. To me, it's a little bit more like Jerry getting rid of Tom Landry.

I don't think we'd get rid of Jimmy was a bad thing until like ten years after.

Right, Well, it's just that moment.

Well, yeah, you're right, it's just that it's been uh And you're right, that's a fair point to make. I just think, is that a curse that we're about to embark upon, you know what I mean? Like I said, a thirty year curse? Right, But that's unfair to look at it through that lens now because.

This may end up working out. You know.

It's interesting about your curse theory, yep, is if the Mavericks were to win a championship, it'd probably be in the next two years, right, And they did win a Super Bowl with Switzer, that's right. Okay, So I couldn't even enjoy that Super Bowl without Jimmy being there, right, I mean, I hated it, but there's no fun having that parade. That's irrational emotions speaking in me, like, because look,

Now.

I would like, I'm wrestling. I'm watching wrestling now, Ben, just to get my mind off of it.

Right, what if Luca comes walking into the wrestling ring, what would you do? He could?

There have been sports guys just walking into the ring doing things. So yeah, and I I try to watch Lakers. Like Katie said earlier, he doesn't understand. And I'm kind of on both of y'all sides on that one because I will try to watch it because I love Luca. I want to still watch him play. But then I can only get through maybe one two quarters.

And I have to turn it off. Yeah, it makes me two sad.

It's not that hard for me to watch these regular season games. But as I'm watching them, I am thinking about what the playoffs are going to be like because usually, you know, the only team I ever root for is the Mavericks. And then I start developing rooting interests during the any playoffs Baseball, NFL, as stories unfold, they become

And the style and all that.

I've never had any I'm not like some big Warriors fan, but once those series get going, I find myself rooting for him because Steph is just irresistible in that way. So for Jimmy, like he has lived a great life. I mean, what a great career choice to go into television. I can't believe it's been thirty one years. All that TV money. He doesn't have to work year round. He flies in like he just flies in, flies out. He's boat man god drinking Heinekens on a boat. He did

He offers nothing. I mean, in the last five to ten years, he's offered nothing.

Yeah, oh, I agree, And I think honestly, like, I bet the Fox people are pumping their fists because it's hard to get rid of it. I mean, they got a lot of old guys sitting around making that show suck. They may have squeezed him out too, they may have been wanting to renegotiate. He's like, I'm not going to do it for that, So that may have led to this. But there's so many people nobody has time to make any big points.

Now. They got nine people out on the sets like what, Yeah, the football.

The football takes it to a new level of ridiculousness. Yeah, there's there's six guys and they just drunk.

I mean, it's it's.

Sucks, dude, Terry Branshaw. Seriously, man, good lord? All right, coming up next, let's turn our attention to Hollywood. Let's go to the Hollywood Shuffle where you going to take his kat.

Last night was the Oscars. We had a couple of odd stories, but the star of the show was your host.

That's next.